LIVE SHOW REVIEW: DORO & SISTER SIN

The world-famous Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia was ablaze on the second date of the Raise Your Fist Tour featuring the German Queen of Metal, Doro and the meteorically rising Swedish band Sister Sin, bringing a new form of hotness not usually associated with Hell. Just to be clear – the 100+ year old venue is divided into three inside performance areas: Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. Hell was sold-out and and I saw literally every kind of fan in attendance, from younger kids to a cool old man of at least 75 sporting a Warlock shirt and everything in between. By evenings end, everyone was smiling after having been baptized by fire in the pits of Metal Hell by two of the hottest, hard-rocking chicks in the business.

The night was kicked off by the Atlanta band, Brazen Angel, who did a very impressive job of getting the heads banging and fists pounding with their onslaught of melodic metal. Having never seen this band before, the first thing I look for is the crowd reaction, and it was abundantly clear that these guys not only had a lot of fans in the audience, but won over those who had never heard them play a note before (present company included). I strongly suggest that you give these guys a listen by checking out their music on their FB band page and catching them live.

Next up was the the powerhouse quartet of Sister Sin, who hit the stage like wild banshees let out of a cage with their asses on fire! In a way, that’s exactly what they were, as it’s been over a year and a half since they’ve been to the U.S., and were obviously thrilled to be here. In the words of lead singer Liv Jagrell, “Hello Atlanta! It’s fucking great to be back in America! Let’s rock this place DOWN!”

And so began a set that lasted well over an hour and a half, in which the band blasted the crowd into a frenzy with songs from their two prior albums, Switchblade Serenades and True Sound of the Underground, such as “One Out of Ten”, “Outrage” and “On Parole.” They also performed almost every song from their newest album, Now and Forever, with the crowd singing along to every word, especially “End of the Line”, “Hearts of Cold” and “Fight Song.” This is one band that you absolutely HAVE to see live, people! I’ve watched them grow from seeing them at the Sweden Fest years ago, to their first run on Vans Warped Tour in 2008 or so, and they are seriously the next big thing in hard-core, old school 80s styled Metal with a modern edge!

Finally the Queen of Metal, the perpetually gorgeous (and yes, still extremely hot) Doro Pesch, took to the stage and it was like lightning bolts were unleashed in the venue; the feeling in the air was literally electric! Doro‘s stage-presence conveys with absolute perfection, the experience that can only come from a career that goes back to 1984, when she founded the heavy metal band Warlock and has been rockin’ every since.

With a discography as long as my arm, it’s impossible to name all of the songs this iconic singer delivered along with her powerhouse band. Hit after hit, mixed in with lots of new songs off of her new album Raise Your Fisttranscended my expectations and made me absolutely adore that little blonde Metal Goddess!

A very touching moment was Doro’s performance of “Hero” which is a tribute to her friend, the late Ronnie James Dio. The crowd was chanting, “DIO! DIO! DIO!” before and after the song. Another pleasant surprise was a rousing and incredibly awesome cover of Judas Priest‘s “Breaking The Law” done Doro-style! After over two hours, the band bid goodnight to the crowd, who would have stayed until daybreak…and then BOTH bands stayed until almost 2 a.m. to meet fans, sign CD’s, t-shirts and take pictures. That was a very refreshing thing to see and restored my faith in the music business – at least for one night.

Overall, this is one of the best pairing of artists on a bill that I’ve seen in a while. The only perplexing thing to me was to wonder whether the two labels here, Victory Records (Sister Sin) and Nuclear Blast USA (Doro), were brilliant to book this tour in venues with capacity sizes guaranteed to ensure a packed house or they underestimated the drawing power of these two bands combined. They should rename this tour “The Asses to Elbows with Fists in the Air Forever and Ever Tour!” Either way, the end result is that fans will get an intimate show they will never forget if they are lucky enough to get tickets. So, don’t delay and check the tour schedule below to see if the Raise Your Fist Tour is coming near you and grab your tix before they’re gone and for the love of all that is Metal and sexy – go see this show!

At the early age of 17 years old Bradford embarked on a musical journey of epic proportions, and obtained his first photo pass to shoot his favorite band. Little did he know that this would be a foreshadowing moment of a life dedicated to all things that rock. So he sold his soul to Rock N' Roll, and continued his exciting journey of entertainment bliss, branching out into writing and interviewing along with photography for several regional magazines. Bradford attends more events in a year than most do in a decade. He also works for tour production in his area, & plays music of his own.